The Finger on the Trigger
The gun clicked uselessly, the trigger freezing halfway as the safety kicked in, preventing the weapon from firing.
Across from him, sitting upright on the couch and as calm as you please, Alec raised a solitary unimpressed eyebrow.
"Rude".
Q immediately deflated.
He felt all air leave his lungs in one sudden whoosh, heart pounding loudly in his ears, knees unsteady and hands suddenly shaking. He stumbled back a step and caught himself against the edge of his desk, breathing far too quickly for his liking.
Alec slowly stood up and started walking closer.
"You know, Quartermaster, if you wanted me dead that much, then you should have just left me in that holding cell".
"Sorry" he said quickly, "I didn't mean to- I wasn't going to- to- I- I just, uh… Sorry".
"Nah, that's alright. You're not the first person to try and shoot me… Not the first friend, either" he muttered, before suddenly shaking himself out of whatever memory that had come to mind, "Anyway. No harm done… Think you can hand me that gun though?"
It was only then that Q realised he still had a death grip around the weapon he'd almost fired, knuckles white and hands trembling. He stared at it for a few moments before slowly holding it out, and Alec gently - and quickly - took it from him.
There weren't many weapons better than a handgun, after all, but a double-0 most certainly made that list.
006 gave it a cursory glance over before double-checking the safety.
"A Glock twenty-two, huh? How very… pedestrian of you".
"It's modified" he replied distractedly, "Microdermal sensor for palmprint recognition".
Alec gave a low whistle. "Nice. I remember James saying something about that, although his was a Walther rather than a Glock. Much more efficient".
He suddenly turned back to Q and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Do all your agents get shiny new toys or is it just your favourite?"
Implying that James bloody Bond was his favourite was almost as ridiculous as 006 not realising that he actually was Q's favourite too. Either way, the man's not-so-subtle plan of calming him down was somehow working, and the omega felt his heart rate slow as his breathing finally started to come under control.
Alec was still watching him closely, the handgun now discarded on the desk next to them, far enough away to not cause any problems but still close enough for Q to grab if he felt the need to.
"... You want to tell me what happened?" 006 eventually asked, but Q avoided his gaze. "Nothing happened".
"You sure? Cause I would hate to have gotten shot over nothing, cub".
His heart warmed at hearing that ridiculous nickname in person, and he quickly straightened up and turned away so that he wouldn't see the blush on his cheeks.
"Nothing happened" he repeated, pretending to tidy the files on his desk, "It's, uh… It's stupid and ridiculous and just- and just nothing".
"It doesn't look like nothing to me. It looks like you got a fright, and a bad one at that… Did someone say something to you?"
"No. Yes. Sort of. I just-"
He cut himself off with an aggravated sigh and realised that the man probably wouldn't drop the subject until he eventually told him. Reluctantly turning back, he picked a spot on the agent's ridiculously handsome face to stare at rather than meeting his gaze head-on.
"How much do you remember? Of the last few hours?"
"Not a whole lot, to be honest. I remember… flashes. Nothing concrete". Alec shook his head. "Why do you ask?"
"Do you… Do you remember going to medical? And fighting with the doctors?"
"I always fight with the doctors. What was so special about this time?"
Q couldn't help but smile at the oh-so-typical double-0 response.
"There was, uh… There was a nurse there, as well. There were a few nurses, really, but your doctor dismissed them all except for one while he went to get your blood checked".
006 frowned, his head tilting ever so slightly to the side, like a confused puppy trying to figure out what 'sit' meant for the first time.
"... Alpha?" he finally replied, "Tall, skinny bloke? Dark hair?"
"Yeah" Q said, his heart starting to race, "Do you remember attacking him?"
"Attacking him? I never attack the nurses! Or the doctors, either, for that matter. Why the hell did I attack him?!"
The Quartermaster paused, knowing full well that his next few words could result in either a pissed off double-0, or a pissed off double-0 who would sign Mortner's death warrant.
He wasn't sure if that would be a bad thing or not.
"He… said… some things" Q carefully replied, "Some… not very nice things about you and… and about me. You, uh… You weren't very impressed with that".
"Clearly not, if I attacked him". Alec's eyes searched his intensely but Q still refused to meet his gaze. "What did he say?"
"It… It doesn't matter. The point is, you attacked him and then Doctor Arkov returned and he called security and the… nurse was escorted out. M gave him until the end of the day to pack his things and leave".
He could feel his heart race even faster which was just ridiculous because he was safe now, Mortner was gone, and Q was safe, he was in his office with Alec and a gun and he was safe and-
"Except he didn't leave, did he?"
The omega's head jerked up, surprised. Alec stared back at him, expression grim and eyes oddly concerned.
"What did he do to you, cub?"
"Nothing" he answered quickly. Too quickly.
"Alright then" the alpha allowed, "What did he say to you?"
He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, so loud that he was convinced the agent could hear it pounding as well.
"It was just stupid threats" he blurted, "Ridiculous things. The usual things, nothing that- that I've never heard before, but- but when he said them, I just…"
"You just-?"
"... They didn't sound empty, coming from him" he finished quietly, "They sounded… The threats sounded real, like- like he meant them, and I just… I just panicked".
"Did he hurt you?"
"... He tried".
A vicious snarl echoed throughout the room before 006 regained control of himself, looking annoyed. He shook his head, took a deep breath, and then turned back to the trembling omega in front of him.
"How did you stop him?"
"... You dislocated his arm, in medical, when you attacked him. Someone had fixed it again, but it was still in a sling and- and obviously a weak point, so I- I just, you know, I… I…"
He trailed off and risked an upwards glance. He was somehow both incredibly surprised and not surprised in the slightest to find Alec staring back down at him and positively beaming.
"Cub" he started, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face, "Cub, did you re-dislocate his arm?"
"I didn't mean to!"
Alec burst out laughing.
"Oh, this is brilliant! I cannot believe that you re-dislocated his arm. This is fantastic. Боже мой, this is the best thing I've heard in weeks!"
"Stop smiling! This isn't something that you're allowed to smile about!"
"Says who?" he challenged, still fucking smiling, "As far as I'm concerned, cub, this is exactly the type of thing you smile about! Did he scream?"
"Alec!"
"Hmm, yeah, I suppose not, or someone would have found you. Did he at least cry?"
"006!"
"A whimper? Anything?"
Q glared at him.
Alec grinned back.
After another moment, the omega sighed and finally looked away. "I don't know what he did. As soon as he… let me go, I just… I ran".
"Let you go?" he said sharply, because of course the stupid bloody alpha would pick up on that phrasing, "What do you mean let you go?"
The Quartermaster tried to turn back to his desk, but Alec was having none of it, instead firmly yet gently holding onto both arms and turning him to face the agent instead.
"Cub?" he pressed, his voice softer this time, "Cub, what did he do to you?"
And just like that, he burst into tears.
"Woah, hey, cub, no, shh!"
Alec immediately pulled him into a tight hug without Q even having to ask, and that just made him cry that much harder.
It was the first proper contact he'd had with anyone in days, let alone with an alpha or a double-0. Despite being 006's teddy bear for the better half of this morning, there was a big difference between getting hugged by a drugged up semi-conscious agent and getting hugged willingly and knowingly by an alpha he could trust.
"Shhh, you're alright, you're okay now, I promise" Alec murmured, his injured arm wrapped around the omega's waist while his good hanf ran up and down his back soothingly.
Q simply shook his head, clutched desperately onto the man's t-shirt, and buried his face in his chest. His scent was warm and safe and reminded him of home, but it was also tinged ever-so-slightly with distress, the alpha no doubt uneasy and worried about the crying omega in his arms.
"You're okay, cub, I've got you" he continued quietly, still trying to reassure him and help him despite his own obvious confusion, and Q wanted to kiss him for it.
After a few minutes, however, he finally regained control of the body-wracking sobs and reluctantly pulled back. Alec let him go just enough to see his face, but kept both arms wrapped loosely around his waist.
"You alright?"
"Yeah" he lied, "Sorry".
"There's nothing to be sorry for, cub". He smiled. "I'd rather you cry on me than shoot me any day".
Q gave a surprised laugh which quickly turned into a rather painful cough as his aching throat started to make itself known. 006, of course, knew exactly what the sound of being choked was like rather intimately, and as soon as the omega caught his breath again, he frowned and gently tilted his head up and back.
The Quartermaster immediately winced as his skin was pulled taut, and his agent gave a hiss of sympathy as he caught sight of what would no doubt be some truly colourful bruises by tomorrow morning.
"He tried to strangle you?!"
"I, uh… might have provoked him into doing that" Q admitted, voice hoarse both from the pain and the tears.
Alec snorted but shook his head all the same. "You can't provoke someone into strangling you, cub. No matter what you said, at the end of the day, that choice was still his… Did he do anything else?"
"No. I, uh… I hit my head on the wall pretty hard, but I don't think I got a concussion".
He hummed noncommittally. "We'll see about that. You got any ice packs in here?"
Q gave him a dry look. "What do you think?"
"I think you need to get yourself a mini fridge".
He laughed, immediately winced, and then glared at the smirking agent.
"Right. Well, we've got two options here" Alec continued, "Option one, you unlock that nice little door of yours and I head down to the kitchen to get some ice, or option two, I stay here and-"
"Option two" he blurted, too bloody exhausted to even feel embarrassed about how quickly he'd made that decision. Even if the thought of reopening the door didn't fill him with immense dread right now - which it did - then the thought of Alec leaving him, even just for a few minutes, was simply inconceivable.
"Alright then" the alpha replied, thankfully not putting up a fight, "Let's head over to the couch, okay? You look like you're about to collapse".
Q felt like he was about to collapse too, so he gladly did as told, a little surprised but more than a little pleased when Alec immediately pulled him down to lie next to him before rolling them over so that the omega was pressed between him and the couch.
It was warm and quiet and small and safe and-
Alec gently pressed Q's face against his neck, hooked his uninjured leg around the omega's, and wrapped both arms around his waist.
-and it was perfect.
"Just try to get some sleep, cub" he said quietly, "The adrenaline crash is going to kick in any minute now, but that's alright because you're safe here, okay? You're safe now, I promise".
Q felt the telltale burning of tears behind his eyes once more, and he pressed his face further against Alec's warm skin to try and stifle them.
"You're safe" the alpha repeated, his voice a mere whisper as one hand softly trailed up and down his back, "Just go to sleep, you're safe now".
Well.
Maybe a little nap wouldn't hurt.
There was going to be a lot of paperwork when he woke up, after all, and incident reports and probably a trip to medical as well as a whole ton of questions from M, Bill, Eve, everyone so-
So maybe a quick nap really was the best option right now.
Focusing on the gun-calloused hand that was tracing meaningless patterns on his skin, Q blocked out all thoughts and memories and concerns, and just let himself drift.
He was woken an indeterminable amount of time later by a knock at the door. Confused, Q blinked blearily and tried to remember just why on earth he'd decided to fall asleep on his office couch, and also why that office couch was now shifting underneath him.
Budget proposal, accounts department, Gregson, staircase, Hans fucking Mortner-
There was another knock on the door and Q froze, heart rate picking up as his breath caught in his aching throat and-
"Hey, no, it's okay, cub, you're alright, you're safe".
A warm hand gently pressed against his curls to turn his face towards a familiar scent.
Alec.
"You're okay" the man repeated quietly, "It's probably just one of your minions who needs your signature or something".
"But what if it's not?" he mumbled, face pressed against the alpha's neck, "What if it's him? What if he's here to finish the job? What if-"
There came a third knock.
"Fuck off!" Alec yelled and Q snorted a laugh in surprise, before immediately regretting that decision as his throat burned.
"Oh, so you're not dead then?"
And- hang on, was that-?
"... Edie?" the alpha asked, having drawn the same conclusion.
"Are you doing unspeakable things to the Quartermaster in there? Because if you are, we need to have a talk".
Q felt himself flush and he groaned as he tried to bury himself in the couch. Now that he knew who it was, his earlier panic had subsided, and as his heart rate slowed, all of the aches and pains and exhaustion of the last day - days, weeks, months - were starting to catch up.
"Do you want to let them in?" Alec asked quietly.
"Them?"
"I'd hazard a guess that there's more than one".
And if a fellow double-0 was saying that…
Q sighed. "Alright".
Awkwardly sitting up, he practically tumbled over the alpha before hitting the floor with an oof. Stumbling to his feet, he seriously started to regret not getting an ice pack when he had the chance, before yawning and half walking, half staggering towards his desk.
The Glock twenty-two was sitting harmlessly in front of him, but he quickly bypassed that embarrassing memory to reach underneath the table and hit the button to disengage the door locks instead.
Alec was right.
As the door slid open, he saw not just Edie, but Saif, Charlie, Alexis, and Duncan too.
It was a full house then.
Q distantly wondered if he was the first MI6 official to ever have more than three double-0s in the same room as him and live.
The pack stepped into his office, sharp eyes immediately taking in his rumpled clothes and just-woke-up bedhead before they turned to where 006 was still sprawled across the couch, completely not abashed looking in the slightest.
Edie sniffed. "Well then. You've still got all your clothes on at least".
"No thanks to you" Alec drawled, completely at ease the absolute bastard.
Q, however, didn't think he could turn any redder and he buried his face in his hands with a groan.
Alexis, thankfully on his side, simply rolled her eyes at the pair before bouncing over for her hug of the day. Given that it had been two days since he'd last seen any of them, and them him, Q expected that he'd be returning to his designation of teddy bear for the foreseeable future.
Obediently lowering his hands, he gave the redhead a smile and braced himself for the inevitable squishing of a touchy double-0.
What he had not expected, was for Alexis to abruptly stop once she saw him, her face pale as horror flashed in her eyes and-
"Q" she asked, voice quiet but undercut with something vicious, "Q, what happened to your neck?!"